The ugly history of blaming ethnic groups for outbreaks

Nasty xenophobia: A worker preparing vegetables at a stall in London’s China Town district. As the Covid-19 virus spread worldwide, Asian communities, especially the ethnic Chinese, around the world are finding themselves subject to suspicion and fear. — AFP

AS the Covid-19 outbreak grew in scale and scope, a nasty side effect also spread: discrimination.

Across the world, we have seen numerous reports of verbal and physical abuse aimed at ethnic Chinese and an aversion to Chinese restaurants and other places associated with China.